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The View from My Kitchen

Benvenuti! I hope you enjoy il panorama dalla mia cucina Italiana -- "the view from my Italian kitchen,"-- where I indulge my passion for Italian food and cooking. From here, I share some thoughts and ideas on food, as well as recipes and restaurant reviews, notes on travel, and a few garnishes from a lifetime in the entertainment industry.

You can help by leaving comments on posts and by becoming a follower. More than a hundred thousand people all over the world have viewed the blog and that's great. But every great leader needs followers and if I am ever to achieve my goal of becoming the next great leader of the Italian culinary world :-) I need followers! I promise, I'm not going to spam anybody. I'd just like to know who's out there and what your thoughts are on what I'm doing.

Grazie mille!

Saturday, March 31, 2012

April (2012) Fun Food Holidays

I could start out by saying April has
been declared National Pink Slime Month, but that would be going too
far even for an April Fool joke. However, I will tell you about a
great prank I heard about: a bunch of high school kids rounded up
three chickens, hung the numbers 1, 2, and 4 on them, and turned them
loose in the school. Administrators went nuts looking for chicken
number three.

Of course, Easter dominates as the
major food holiday this month. Regardless of whether it falls in
March or April, Easter Sunday is recognized as National Baked Ham
with Pineapple Day. And how many things can you think of to do with
boiled eggs? But there are lots of other fun foodie days in April.
For instance, month-long recognition goes to soft pretzels, garlic,
Florida tomatoes, and grilled cheese. Of course, I celebrate these
things every month, but this month it's official.

Also official in April, National Bake
Week begins on April 1st and, speaking of things to do
with boiled eggs, the second week in April is National Egg Salad
Week.

April 1 is also National Sourdough
Bread Day, a great way to kick off Grilled Cheese Month, I must say.

April 2 is dedicated to the classic
peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which, I suppose, you could also
make on sourdough bread if you had any left over from the previous
day.

A little chocolate mousse is always a
good thing, but it's even better on it's own official holiday, April
3.

Grab a chicken, some ham, some
cheese and go to town for National Cordon Bleu Day on April 4.

Take your pick; you can either
celebrate National Caramel Day or National Raisin and Spice Bar Day
on April 5. Okay, I guess you could celebrate both.

Pour some of that leftover caramel on
popcorn for National Caramel Popcorn Day, April 6.

The 7th is Coffee Cake Day
and if you're not doing baked ham and pineapple for Easter, you could
always go for an empanada on April 8, National Empanada Day.

Chinese almond cookies take the day on
April 9, the 10th is reserved for cinnamon crescents (or
croissants), and the 11th belongs to cheese fondue.

Wonder Bread and Kraft American Cheese
Slices are the order of the day on the 12th, National
Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day. It's also National Licorice Day, but as
much as I like the two separately, I can't quite imagine them
together.

Peach cobbler is the star on April 13
and pecans have their day on the 14th.

If you didn't do an Easter ham on the
8th, it's okay. You can redeem yourself on April 15, National Glazed Spiral Ham Day.

Eggs Benedict and mushrooms share the
day on April 16. Hmmm.....mushrooms on Eggs Benedict?

It's National Cheeseball Day on the
17th. Coincidentally, it's also Healthy Kids Day. Hmmmm...

Believe it or not, animal crackers have
an official birthday. It's April 18th. When I was a kid, I
always bit the heads off first.

Speaking of heads, National Garlic Day
falls on the 19th, as does National Amaretto Day. Two
Italian staples that should probably not be celebrated jointly.

Nor should pineapple upside-down cake
and lima beans, but they are both assigned the same holiday on April
20. (Actually, it's Lima Bean RESPECT Day. Cue Aretha Franklin.)

Chocolate-covered cashew truffles get a
day all to themselves on the 21st.

April 22 is National Jelly Bean Day.
It's also Earth Day this year. No connection. Just sayin'.

Now, cherry-cheesecake and picnics
could be connected, I suppose. They share the day on April 23.

The 24th belongs to
pigs-in-a-blanket and the 25th to zucchini bread.

Pretzels are prime on April 26,
National Pretzel Day.

Give it up for prime rib on the 27th,
followed by kudos for blueberry pie on the 28th.

Shrimp scampi is the speciale del
giorno on April 29th
and raisins rule on April 30.

2 comments:

Hi, Ron. Very interesting blog and as an Italian from Sardinia living (on and off) in Idaho of all places , I like reading about your point of view.I just wanted to correct your Italian translation of the blog title.It's "Il panorama dalla mia cucina italiana".Hope you don't mind...Saluti

enjoyed the blog but don't understand the name of the blog! Are you Italian from the midwest? I don't understand... it's a tad misleading.

I am an Italian living both in Scalea, Calabria & Jacksonville Beach, FL, I was born and raised in the U.S. but decided to return to the mother ship in 2008.

For years I have duked it out with Panera, The Fresh Market, McDonald's, and various other food suppliers for their stupid (I'm being kind) bastardization of Italian food names. All three advertise 'panini', only they serve one sandwich. I gave them all fair warning that if they write panini, I expect more than one sandwich in my order. Eyes glazing over is the only response I get. I was served pasta e fagioli in a less than mediocre large Italian restaurant in Indiana. No beans, no pasta. I sent it back, telling the waitress the name meant pasta and beans. She was sweet and told the kitchen staff they didn't know what they were doing and they had an angry customer 'out there'. The blue-eyed blonde thanked me for a great lesson and took pure delight in being able to show up the kitchen help. My own blogsite shares some of this same thing, but my direction is purely Italian and Italian-American.

Who Am I (and Why Should You Care)?

I've been around long enough to know a little bit about a lot of things. That said, there are a couple of things I know a little bit more about; food and entertainment.

I've been cooking since I was a kid -- a very long time, indeed -- and I've spent most of my adult life in the entertainment industry.

I've been writing about one or the other of these topics since the '80s, and I have been published in numerous magazines and newspapers over the years. I also spent the better part of two decades behind a microphone as the host of my own radio talk show.

Does all of this make me an expert? Nah! But I'm certainly entitled to my opinion -- and so are you! :-)